Overexploitation of wildlife is a major driver of global biodiversity loss, with illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade threatening the survival of species across the Tree of Life. Effective conservation measures are necessary to ensure sustainable wildlife use, harvesting and trade. This includes establishing wildlife trade regulations on the basis of science and ensuring their effectiveness. However, the uncertainty inherent in population assessments and status of many species, the complexity of wildlife trade chains, the diverse sociocultural drivers of trade, and the telecoupled impacts of trade across the globe make wildlife trade policy-making and enforcement particularly challenging. In order to overcome these challenges, strengthening collaboration across traditional disciplinary lines and building cross-cultural understanding are critical. This Open Session features invited talks from experts in the sustainable use and trade of wildlife from around the world, facilitating a forum for international, interdisciplinary discussion at ESJ73 in Kyoto. This will advance the scientific discourse on domestic and international wildlife trade policy, strengthen international collaboration, and contribute to the development of lasting and sustainable solutions. Invited wildlife trade experts will introduce the development of wildlife trade regulations, discuss the state of trade in various species and the sustainable use of wildlife, explore ways to advance an adaptive approach to wildlife trade management in the 21st century, outline novel and practical ways to better include diverse stakeholders, and draw lessons from the broader global environmental governance arena to improve wildlife trade management. Commentators from academia and Japan’s Ministry of the Environment with expertise  in ecology, domestic wildlife trade regulations in Japan, and international wildlife trade governance policy (e.g. CITES) will provide comments and participate in a general discussion. This Open Session emphasizes diversity, and is intended to facilitate the sharing of domestic and international insights in this field and serve as a catalyst for the future development of related research within the Ecological Society of Japan.
Commentators: Dr. Hiroyuki Matsuda (Yokohama National Univ.), Dr. Nobuo Ishii (Tokyo Woman’s Christian Univ.) and an officer from Japan’s Ministry of the Environment